Battle System
Battles in Phantom Brave take place on a strategic, isometric board grid embedded with the theme of the world you're in. (On a jungle world, you'll fight in a jungle.) On these grids, enemies and objects are encountered. Turns The game takes place using a turn-based system. After one character moves, another will move. The amount of times a character can move is determined by their SPD Stat. Faster characters have priorty. If a Witch with 10 SPD is fighting a Fenrir with 60 SPD, the Fenrir will have multiple consecutive turns. The more SPD a character has, the more turns he/she will have. Certain weapons can increase SPD while others decrease it. You must use the right weapon in the right situation. Movement The main way you will attack your opponent is by walking towards them. Movement range is expressed in DM. (Distance of Movement) A character's movement range is determined by what title they have and by what class they are. (Four-legged monsters can move farther, while Owls can jump higher.) To move, you must select your character and choose the move option. You can move for as long as you have DM. As an example, say you are controlling a Witch that has 30 DM. You can choose to move 10 of those Dm instead of all 30, still being able to move after attacking or performing whatever action was desired. The terrain can hamper or improve your movement. (Example: icy stages can allow you to move with very short DM, but have you catapult across the map, while bouncy stages can affect something that is thrown, causing it to catapult in the air over and over, consuming large amounts of DM.) You can also be knocked Out-Of Bounds (Referred to as O.B. throughout the game.) If knocked off the stage, a normal Phantom will be unable to participate in the current battle, returning to Phantom Isle instead. Unique Characters, such as Marona and Ash, however, will merely be teleported back onto the map. Any enemies that are O.B.'ed will level up all other enemies on the map by a select amount. Attacking Attacking is activated in the same manner as moving, by selecting from the menu. Once selected, a list of skills will be displayed. Skills cost SP, which are accumulated by using a skill of the same element. (Using a Healing skill may give you extra Healing points, which increase your useage limit.) Once a skill is selected, it will either immediately execute, or allow you to select a character in range to use the skill on. Holding a certain button can allow your character to move while selecting the range for better strategy and a closer or longer-range attack. Once in range, it will execute. Some attacks can cause Status Ailments or can knock you back or Out-Of-Bounds if near the map's edge. Be mindful of this. Confine The main character Marona is the focus and center of the game. All battle begin and end with her. When the battle starts, you must use the "Confine" ability in order to summon your troops. To do this, go to the Menu and choose Confine. Marona can Confine under a certain radius, so if an object's just out of reach, move and then Confine. You can have a total of 16 characters/ objects on your side in any given battle. Summoning an Unarmed Phantom counts as one character while summoning a Mystic with a staff equipped on him counts as two. (Mystic and Staff are both considered Characters.) Skills Each class has a rating of how well they learn a certain Skill type. (Highest is "S," Then goes from "A" all the way down to "F.") The higher a learning level is, the faster the character in question will gain for using a Skill of that type. Example, a Male Fighter will accumulate Physical points MUCH faster than he would if he was using Magic, since he's better at attacking than Magic, While a Witch will gain Magic points easily, but it'll take her a long time to develop Physical skills, since she's Physically-challenged. There are seven types of Skills. Physical: It's symbol is a sword with a black boxed background. These are basic attacking skills. Mostly Fighters and other ATK-dependent classes will excel in this type of skill usage. (Mainly uses ATK to attack.) Energy: It's symbol is the same as Physical, but the sword has a red aura to it. This type is mainly used by the Female Fighter classes, Archers, as well as most Monsters. These Attacks are usually long-range attacks that can hit multiple enemies at a time. (Mainly uses ATK or SPD to attack.) Magic: It's symbol is a black Lightning Bolt with a yellow boxed background. This is mainly Elemental Magic. (Fire, Ice, Wind, Thunder.) Witches and most Magic-using classes can use this skill type effectively. (Mainly uses INT to attack.) Natural: It's symbol is a gray/brown-ish weed with a yellow background. This is mainly used for inanimate objects and by natural enemies such as Saber Kitties and Shrooms. These skills can use a variety of attacks communing with nature. (Mainly uses SPD and RES to attack, but other stats can be mixed in.) Spacial: It's symbol is three black diagonal, parralel lines witha gray-ed out back ground. These skills are mostly long-Range attacks that are not used proficiently by very many classes. Mainly acts as a secondary to Elemental Magic. Mainly used by Titilists and Prinnies. However, many support classes such as Fusionists and Merchants have one skill like this that boosts how much of a certain collectible can be obtained. (Example: Fusionists have "Mana Punch," which is a skill that increases the amount of Mana received based on how much damage is inflicted if used as the final blow.) (Mainly uses the INT skill to attack.) Status: It's symbol is a white skull within a black boxed background with a red outline. These skills are mainly used to affect one's status, hence the name. Healing-geared classes can use these types of skills to buffer a Fighter with more ATK power, or give a Defensive character more DEF to use. There are also skills of this type that can be used to attack the enemy. These skills usually cause a Status Ailment or a drop in one of an enemy's statistics.This skill type is mainly used by Healers or Mystics at the start of the game, but some other classes can use them effectively, too. (Mainly uses the RES skill to attack, but may use INT in some attacks.) Healing: It's symbol is a Heart in a black boxed background. These skills are used for....well....Healing HP. Healers are obviously the best with this skill type, but other classes can use this Skill type effectively as well. There are very few skills of this type that can be used to attack, but usually have VERY steep SP costs. Uses the RES stat to attack and to determine Healing power. (More RES, More HP recovered.) Status Ailments Status Ailments can affect a character in negative ways depending on the Ailment inflicted. All ailments are cured after the battle by talking to the Healer on Phantom Isle, or during battle with the "Espoir" Skill. Note that all Status Ailments will automatically heal themselves after a select number of given turns. (Usually 3 or 4.) Poison: Symbolized by purple bubbles floating from a character's head. Saps 10% of HP every time the character's turn comes up. Sleep: Symbolized by yellow "Z's" floating from a character's head. Character cannot act when their turn comes up, their turn is automatically passed on to the next character in Action Queue. Amnesia: Symbolized by two flashing purple "?" symbols on a character's head. Character can only perform the most basic skills. Any skill that even uses 1 SP from any type cannot be used until Ailment is cured. Paralyzation: Symbolized by two flashing white lightning bolts on a character's head. Character cannot use the "Move" command. Stuck in place, but can still use skills that move them. Gamble:Symbolized by flashing sweatdrops on a character's head. Any character or object hit by this will either take no damage (Game records this as a "Miss.") or will be instantly killed by whatever attacks it. Depraved: Symbolized by a swirling black line on a character's head. Cannot give out EXP upon defeat and cannot receive EXP upon killing an enemy. Lift/Throw System Phantom Brave utilizes the same mechanic most NIS game do. You can lift and throw anything on the map, but there are prerequisites. First of all, you must not be holding anything, although you can "Throw" it and then lift something else. The object you are aiming to grab must not be under the "Rooted" or Grounded" protections. Once lifted, the object can be used as a weapon, or can be thrown anywhere within a certain radius. You can "Lift" as many times as you want, but you can only "Throw" once per turn. You also cannot throw if you have attacked something already. Protection Protection is a new feature introcuced in Phantom Brave. Protection offers positive or negative effects to whatever is receiving it. There is always an object or character that acts as a medium for the protection and there is always a character/object that receives it. Example: A Mystic is giving out an "Attack 20% effect to a Weed. If you confine a Phantom to the Weed, their Attacking power (Meaning any stat that they are attacking with.) will increase by 20%. If the medium is knocked out, O.B'ed, or destroyed, then the Protection will stop and the object/character that received the Protection will no longer do so. (In the earlier case, if the Mystic giving out the Attack 20% is knocked out, the character receiving the Protection prior to his death will stop receiving it.) To use this feature to one's advantage, the player must confine a Phantom to an object receiving the Protection in question. Confining a character to the medium will grant no results, but will turn the confined character into the medium for the Protection instead. Category:Game Systems